Three tall nesting platforms have been set up in the Amana-area in hopes of luring rare birds called osprey into calling the place home. Larry Gnewikow, a forester with the Amana Society, says the cedar nesting platforms are atop 30-foot-tall poles.Osprey are also called fish hawks. Gnewikow says it’s been 90 years since any osprey have been confirmed nesting in Iowa.He says restoring native birds to the area is an important effort for the Amana Society. He says they’ve been successful in luring bald eagles back to the eastern Iowa community.Two of the osprey nesting platforms are in High Amana and a third is in East Amana. Some of the birds were released in 1997 at Coralville Reservoir. More were released recently in Cedar Falls. Gnewikow says there are no plans to buy birds for the Amanas as they can cost up to 500-dollars each.
